After such a long wait and a blitz of a heavy-handed promotional campaign, Wicked finally finds itself flying into theaters.
The film, which stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Arianna Grande as Glinda, seeks to capture the magic of the immensely popular Broadway musical while bringing the story to a new audience of moviegoers.
The story follows Elphaba in her days before becoming the dreaded wicked witch of the West, meeting Glinda and starting an unlikely friendship that will have consequences on all of Oz, as well as some pivotal moments that help set up the story of "The Wizard of Oz" and beyond.
Overall, the movie is good, a faithful adaptation of the stage play to a fault. Immediately, Erivo and Grande's chemistry is apparent, and that chemistry carries the rest of the film. Erivo's Elphaba is a tad bit more reserved than her Broadway counterparts, but in it comes an earnest quality that makes her relationships and motivations more and more believable as the film goes on, while Grande's Glinda is a stark mirror image of Glinda's past on broadway. A quirky charm mixed with a dash of selfishness makes for a fun watch as she weaves herself in and out of comedic and dramatic situations that the story lays out.
The songs are incredibly faithful to the Broadway musical, from the arrangements to the vocal performances, they offer the audience an authentic adaptation of the classic Broadway musical, even if the power of having a live vocal is diminished by having to listen to the songs through a screen.
The story also remains very faithful to the play but adds some further details found in the book to obtain more narrative tension throughout its almost 3-hour runtime. With such faithfulness, a natural question may arise: "Why make this a film?" This came to my mind many times during the film. It's so starkly the same as the stage production, from comedic beats to inflections, one wonders why a Pro-shot production wasn't committed to theaters instead.
Not all mediums are meant to mix. What's good for a book may not be good for an interpretive dance, and what's good for a live musical production may not be perfect for a film. Visually, the movie offers a colorful look at Oz, but the cinematography remains pretty flat, the big numbers with dozens of actors on the screen are fun but don't feel as impressive as the production, which does so much more with so much less.
The 2-hour and 40-minute runtime is far too long, and so little more is added to the film than the stage production. Yes, there are some extended scenes with some characters that flesh out the central conflict a little better, but nothing in the nearly twice-as-long film is so much more detail that it gives the story any more depth.
In fact, at some points, the opposite happens. Characters like Bok suffer greatly from having the runtime extended because, for most of the movie, there is nothing for him to do or say that doesn't amount to the somewhat two-dimensional character that he is. The stage production does breeze through events rather quickly, but the film doesn't really add anything that the stage production doesn't have in one way or another.
It's worth mentioning again that Erivo and Grande are fantastic and carry the film, the rest of the cast are simply there. On the screen, hitting their marks but somewhat without much motivation, use, or interest.
Even with those criticisms, "Wicked" is still good enough that it's worth a view. It's a movie that doesn't feel as if it's trying to be a good film but rather an acceptable adaptation of a Broadway musical before anything else. It does not feel as if it's intended to be interesting to the audience but rather a great time for fans of the Broadway musical, and in that, it ultimately succeeds.
If you loved "Wicked" on the stage, you will love "Wicked" on the big screen. There was an opportunity to bring "Wicked" to the silver screen with the careful execution like a surgery scalpel, but instead, what we've gotten is a blunt instrument that hits upon nostalgia, cheeky winks at the audience with inside jokes and cameos that are not as much as a surprise as they are necessary bait for fans.
It will be remembered as a successful move from Broadway to the theaters, as it should be, but hopefully, it will inspire more risk for its second part than easy answers and low-risk, high-reward filmmaking.
My Verdict: 7.5/10
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